I get by with a little help from my friends…or don’t underestimate the rich resources that surround you
When you begin to think about creating a marketing plan for your organization the best thing to do is start talking it up: at beginning of meetings, at the lunch room or any other place or time where people informally gather. Make sure you get the world out that you are looking for amazing and talented people to work on your team. I have no doubt that you will find most of these resource right within your organization. If you are working at a university or college you probably have people right in your building who have marketing experience or who are taking classes in this area, people who are great at event planning, people who already have great connections to important people on campus and people who have graphic experience. The most important thing to do is make sure that these people know that you need them and that you will respect their talents.
Mary has some good points. I’ve found that first, people must be interested in knowing more about other people. “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” (Covey) My experiences exploring the art of collaboration or combining forces is that we don’t spend enough time “mining” each other’s background and interests and this is true no matter how long you have known someone. Humans make assumptions about other humans based on what they see, hear and observe. Mostly our assumptions are incorrect. It is impossible to know someone’s talents or passions unless you are TRULY interested in knowing them better. Spend time deliberately asking them or work at researching this information.
You can start practicing right away. Next time you go to a workshop or a conference or a meeting, try to: 1) sit close to someone you don’t know; 2) experiment with different questions that help you know this person’s talents, interests or passions; 3) ask more questions about their interests so you can dig deeper. These are techniques that you’ll have to practice and there are huge rewards.
To get to the pot of gold, you have to put yourself in the backseat of the conversation, not in the front seat.